


Royal Obligations

by HedonistInk



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Childhood Sweethearts, Cinderella Elements, Commoner Keith (Voltron), Eventual Smut, First Kiss, First Love, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, It's gonna be mostly fluff and angst though, M/M, Prince Shiro (Voltron), Rating May Change, Reunions, Romantic Fluff, Stolen Moments, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, cause you know they gonna bang, depends how thirsty I'm feeling, royal duties, that's right folks it's a cinderella AU, this is me after all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-16 03:44:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10563009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HedonistInk/pseuds/HedonistInk
Summary: Shiro is the son of the King, heir to the kingdom and bound by duty to pick a bride by his twenty-first birthday. Keith is the son of a mason, Shiro's oldest childhood friend, and the one who holds the Prince's heart. When fate brings them both together again after many years apart, Shiro finds himself torn between his duty to his kingdom and the calling of his heart.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Alllrighty so I was watching the live action Cinderella and I sort of fell in love with the Prince's outfit at the ball. And my brain suggested Cinderella!Keith. And this spawned out of that. So hang in there folks, we're in for a wild ride. As always, comments and kudos are treasured and loved!  
> Now with art by ZEROren: [Here](http://interdictedink.tumblr.com/post/159452800562/royal-obligations-a-sheith-fic-by-interdictedkai)

Shiro drove his horse harder, heading into the woods. He was still seething with the conversation he'd had with his father. How dare he? How dare he _demand_ Shiro get married to some woman he didn't even _know?_ Shiro knew he would have to pick a bride eventually. He'd always known that. But being _told_ so outright that this was what was going to happen, that it was happening now, and that he had no choice in the matter was like acid in his veins. So Shiro had taken his horse and _left._

He needed space, he needed air, he needed peace, he needed to _breathe._ He hardly even noticed where he was going until he'd gotten there. The old tower had been long since reclaimed by the forest, trees and vines overtaking the stone structures, breaking them down and leaving only shattered ruins in their place. A safe place. Shiro knew this place well. He could see why his mind had led him there.

Shiro had many good memories of this place, old memories, childhood memories. As he dismounted and tied his horse to a sturdy branch of a stout tree, his thoughts drifted to the boy he spent countless hours with in these old ruins. Keith.

The mason's son had been Shiro's first true friend, the first one who wasn't only 'friends' with Shiro out of some sense of obligation or duty to the young prince. Quite to the contrary, Keith had made no secret of the fact that he _loathed_ Shiro when they first met. Keith was blatant about the fact that he wanted nothing to do with him and disrespected his title as though it were his favourite hobby. It was a large part of what had drawn Shiro in and made him so determined to unravel the mysteries of the fiery and contradictory boy who was only a year his junior.

And the more Shiro learned about him, the more he wanted to know. Keith had warmed up to him eventually as the two boys found things to bond over. It turned out that their interests and views lined up surprisingly well, once they'd managed to set their assumptions about each other aside. Keith was bright and witty and Shiro would often take him into the grand library so they could spend hours getting lost in the books and manuscripts, puzzling out the words neither of them understood and fantasising about the grand ideas and adventures they could have. When the weather was nice, Keith would help Shiro sneak out of the castle and away from his tutors and they would get lost in the old ruins together for the day, coming back bruised and scraped but grinning from ear to ear. Oh Shiro had been told off for those adventures more times than he could count. And it had been worth it every time.  

Keith had been Shiro's first crush, his first young love. Of course, Shiro hadn't realised it at first. Not when he was young. He knew he wanted to spend time around Keith, that he wanted to be near him, that he valued Keith's opinions and often went to him for advice and an outside perspective. But that was all.

At least at first.

When Keith had become the object of Shiro's fantasies and dreams when he hit puberty, it had only seemed natural. Shiro had never even thought anything of it. Of _course_ Keith would be the one he dreamed of. He'd only wanted to kiss the other boy for years.

Of course, Shiro knew they couldn't be together. Keith was a commoner, a mason's son, a _boy._ And Shiro was a prince, the heir to the kingdom, bound to marry a noblewoman and have an heir to carry on the kingdom after him. And so he kept quiet about it, kept his feelings buried deep in his heart, never dared to tell Keith how he felt.

Keith's father had died in a building accident when he was fifteen and the young teen had been made to leave the grounds. It felt like there was a void in Shiro's life in his absence. His best friend, his secret love, was gone from his life without a trace. He'd heard that Keith had been sent to live with some distant relatives in the neighbouring town but that was all that Shiro had been told. And he couldn't exactly pry for more without people wondering why _The Prince_ cared so much about a simple commoner. It was a harsh reminder that Shiro wasn't _allowed_ to care about Keith the way he did. The fact that the boy had captured his heart was irrelevant to… everything.

So Shiro instead had devoted himself to his duties and to learning the business of running the kingdom. He was old enough now to be given more important duties, to be sent on diplomatic trips surrounded by a team of advisors telling him what to do, how to act, what to say. And, while he hadn't been able to forget about Keith, it had given him a way to move on with his life, something to focus on. The reality that he would have to pick a bride eventually was a distant thought, something he didn't have to deal with _now,_ something Shiro put off for as long as he could.

It turned out that 'as long as he could' was a month before his twenty-first birthday.

His father had called for him in his chambers, ordering Shiro to sit across the desk from him as he scanned through a pile of papers. And that was when he had given him the news. A ball was going to be thrown on his birthday in his name, in his honour. It was to be a birthday celebration with nobles and royals from across the kingdoms invited. And Shiro was expected to pick a bride by the end of that evening.

It was absurd, that he would be expected to marry some woman he didn't even know, some woman he'd only met for an evening. But then again, as far as his father was concerned, marriage only needed to be a business arrangement. As long as it was beneficial to the kingdom, that was what mattered the most. Love could come later, his father insisted. But Shiro knew better, he knew it wouldn't. His heart only belonged to one person, the boy with the fire in his eyes.

A sound of crunching branches snapped Shiro out of his thoughts and he whirled around towards the source of the noise, hand immediately going to the sword at his waist as he unsheathed it partway. "Wh-who goes there?"

The noise stopped before it continued again, a man stepping out from behind one of the shattered half-walls a moment later. He was short, far shorter than Shiro, hair tied up in a messy ponytail at the base of his neck. The man's clothes were tattered and well-worn, a basket slung over his arm. He looked so familiar and yet so different both at once. Why did Shiro feel like he knew him? God but he seemed so familiar.

It was when the man spoke that the realisation hit him as though he'd been punched, knocking the breath right out of his chest. "T-takashi…?"

Shiro's heart stopped for a moment, slamming back into gear a moment later to hammer inside his throat. "...Keith?"


End file.
